SOUTH PADRE ISLAND — As the pandemic continues, city officials are continuing to make decisions in an effort to help stop the spread of the coronavirus.
In a meeting held Dec. 2, South Padre Island City Council members approved a motion to suspend all beach permits now through April 15.
During the meeting, SPI Mayor Patrick McNulty said he was asked by a venue owner to place the topic of 2021 Spring Break and special events beach permits on the agenda.
“I was asked to put this on the agenda because I guess it’s time for people to start planning or not planning for Spring Break, and so they kind of wanted to know what the council wanted to do in regards since we’re one of the ones who signs off on the beach permits,” he explained.
With Spring Break being three months away, McNulty said he felt it was time to give the vendors notice that the city won’t be issuing any special event beach permits.
“We don’t have a vaccine in place,” he said. “Most of the universities have cancelled their Spring Break and it just kind of lets everybody know that they don’t need to be planning for something like that because I don’t see how we can do it safely at this time with the requirements that are there by the CDC, state health, governor’s actions and all of that stuff.”
During the meeting, the council also approved a motion to extend the city’s emergency order regarding beach operations to Jan. 6.
The order mandates that all types of canopies and pop-up tents are prohibited on the beach, as well as single-pole shade structures that are larger than 8 feet in diameter.
It also requires single-pole shade structures to be separated by a minimum of 15 feet, and only two chairs per single pole shade structure is permitted.
Other setups are prohibited within the 15 feet between the equipment.
A violation of the order is a Class C Misdemeanor, which is punishable by a fine not to exceed $500.
“There’s a lot of concern about what Thanksgiving is going to do to our situation,” McNulty said during the meeting. “Hospitals are at the highest level they’ve been regarding COVID. So we know that it’s not slowing down and we do have very much concerns about the health and safety of our citizens, residents and guests.”
The council will revisit the item during its next city council meeting that will be held on Jan. 6.
To view the entire order, visit https://tinyurl.com/y4fhrkv6 .
“I think people can live with the restrictions that we have in place now for at least another couple of months,” SPI Council Member Kerry Schwartz said during the meeting. “I hope it gets better. I’d love to see an end to this.”
